diff --git a/mythtv/files/mythoptimize b/mythtv/files/mythoptimize
index 85fbcac..a7f2e27 100755
--- a/mythtv/files/mythoptimize
+++ b/mythtv/files/mythoptimize
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-MYTHCONFDIR="/etc/mythtv"
-MYTHVERSION="`rpm -q --queryformat='%{VERSION}\n' mythtv-docs`"
+export MYTHCONFDIR="/etc/mythtv"
+export MYTHVERSION="`rpm -q --queryformat='%{VERSION}\n' mythtv-docs`"
 perl /usr/share/doc/mythtv-docs-${MYTHVERSION}/contrib/optimize_mythdb.pl > /dev/null